The recent gender politics thread is instructive. 3-4 posts were rude, in a thread of 119 posts. Not exactly acid rain.

IMO, discussing the worldviews DCSS reflects and propagates is good (if not perfect) for CYC, but it was established that there is an ongoing mod effort to nix such topics.

When such a thread comes up, it is allowed to linger instead of being removed as soon as possible, and a dialogue emerges.

Generally, aside from behind-the-scenes code stuff, a lot more gets discussed than done, so if something gets done, one may reasonably expect it to be discussed. This can be productive. But in this case and others, a side demonstrates supreme confidence, yet little elaboration, which naturally provokes probing and guesswork from the other side, and then... this elicits more of the same, somehow: several people put their finger on the needle and the record starts skipping.

(Do not make fun of those who may not have progressed to your conviction, nor deny their confusion,when to dismiss aesthetic choices of previous devs is fine,to criticize aesthetic choices of current devs is unacceptable,yet to be a conservative old fart and say "Gimme my [tradition] and bugger off!" is a stance to be proud of.)

Mods allow this talk to generate, even explicitly herald that it is possible, yet studiously avoid the salient points while actively participating, and tease with the possibility of resolution and understanding. To never be able to get any hopes up would be a welcome relief. I reviewed the forum rules and "You do not talk about about gender." is not one of them. I believe if something can shut down people's willingness to communicate on such a basic level, that's an issue that these opt-in forums don't have sufficient tools to tackle. Like running an FPS on the DCSS game engine, it's not going to happen. Outright banning gender-talk would be an improvement over the current situation. Simple, and if anyone asks, say: yes, we do and change a lot around here, but this thing here? do not talk about it, it is off-limits; just let us do this, no talking! What good does pretending to be okay with talking about gender do?

Last edited by archaeo on Saturday, 11th June 2016, 20:16, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:magipi is right